I Became A Zompirewolf

"You shouted you're going all out and this is it?" Ashton shook his head, "Talk about being disappointed. And what was that cringe dialogue? You'll rip the armour off? You can't even land a hit on me and you're gonna rip my armour off?"

"Shut your mouth! Just shut it!"

Jacklin rushed at Ashton once again, but the end result was the same. Jacklin's blows might have been explosive, but in front of Hydra's Scale armour, they were neutralised the moment he touched the armour. After all, it was an armour as tough as the Hydra himself.

If Balmond had trouble getting through it, then there wasn't any way mere punches were going to do much. Not to mention, if someone like Jacklin could break it, then he wouldn't have to challenge Ashton to get the fourth seat legitimately.

After all, the alien turd was doing all this because he did not have enough strength to conquer the trial. But the reason Jacklin's attacks weren't working was a bit different.

The armour's passive effect was protecting Ashton. That was the reason, no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to deal a single point worth of damage to Ashton. It was a privilege of owning a legendary grade armour.

However, it wasn't as if Ashton was invincible, just like any dragonic species had a weakness, there was a weakness in this armour as well.  The reverse scale.

The legends often mentioned that a dragon's scales grew along with them from birth, never shedding nor breaking. There was only one exception: that was a scale that grew in reverse also known as the reverse scale.

It was usually located under their necks, and that was where all the dragon's heart blood converged. It was also their weak point. The hydra might have also had one reverse scale somewhere on his gargantuan body. Considering Hydra's Scale armour had one as well. But it was more like a 'debuff' than a material, visible thing.

__

[Hydra's Reverse Scale]: (Debuff) Upon being hit by six consecutive magic-based attacks from an enemy, the armour would lose its immunity from physical attacks. As long as the user can parry magic-based attacks, the armour would be able to nullify damage from any physical attacks.

__

This ability of the armour was the reason how Ashton was able to stand Jacklin's blows, despite the fact that he facing a B-grade brawler. Since Brawlers depended strictly on using physical abilities, therefore, Ashton was the worst match for Jacklin. No matter how hard Jacklin tried, he would not be able to hurt Ashton as long as no one used mana-based attacks on him.

Ashton wasn't a fool to blindly accept a duel with a B-grade being simply because he was provoked. He already analysed Jacklin's abilities the moment the occupant of the fourth seat arrived there and engaged him only after realising the advantage he had over the B-grade being.

'I just hope they don't take [Detection] away from me in one of the trials.' Ashton thought while effortlessly countering Jacklin's blows, 'Had it not been for it, I wouldn't have dared to go against baldy. Especially since I can't expose my Xyran genes here.'

[Well, now you know why I asked you to fight him. It was a good way to test the armour. However, there is a problem and you know about it as well.]

Ashton nodded. Jacklin might not be able to damage Ashton, but it was also the case with Ashton. Just because Jacklin couldn't deal damage to him, it didn't mean that he was weak. If it hadn't been for the armour, Ashton wouldn't have lasted more than a couple of seconds in front of him before being forced to use Xyran's Demonification ability.

That being said, Jacklin was a monster when it came to his physical abilities. Thus, even if Ashton tried attacking him, he would either miss or wouldn't deal much damage. Because Jacklin had an absurd amount of points invested in his agility, armour and strength.

These three stats were the only stats a brawler had to care about. As a result, Jacklin had more than 250 points in all of those stats.

"Come on coward! Fight me back!" Jacklin yelled in frustration.

The shockwaves generated by his attacks slowly broke the earth and both of them sank deeper and deeper. As Jacklin got fiercer, everyone around them backed up. None of them wanted to get accidentally hit by Jacklin and end up swatted down like mere insects.

Soon Jacklin lost any graceful movements that he had been utilising till now. His punches turned more barbaric as did his desire to impale Ashton with his fists. But no matter what he tried, none of his attacks seemed to do anything to the boy, even if his punches somehow managed to connect.

However, Ashton had a trump card in his sleeves. Just because his HP wasn't reducing, it didn't mean he wasn't accumulating any damage. The armour was simply nullifying the damage... but the system was time counting the amount of damage he had received.

According to the system, Ashton had already received around twenty thousand HP worth of damage. It would be a waste to not do something about it.

'I was intending to keep my most important abilities ready for the trials. But it doesn't look like this fucker would let me go for trials unless one of us is defeated.'

[Using that ability now wouldn't kill him.]

,m 'It will get him off my back, so it's fine. Either way, I don't wanna kill a high-ranking official on this planet. It would only cause more trouble for me.'

[Hm... sometimes I wonder why you behave like a complete moron. Then there are times like these when your intelligence makes me doubt if we have a third person dwelling within our body.]

'No thanks. Two of us are more than enough.'

Saying so, Ashton decided to use an ability he hadn't in a while. Jacklin, unaware of Ashton's plan, gather all his might and threw yet another explosive punch.

The crater underneath their feet got shattered. Large chunks of the ground were thrown everywhere. The area within a kilometre radius around them had cracks huge enough to swallow even the largest of trial participants alive.

Hundreds of participants, guards and other workers had to suffer because one of the seatholders couldn't control his strength. The others seatholders would have certainly not taken kindly to such outburst but none of that was important at the moment.

The only thing that mattered for Jacklin was the feeling he got a second ago. Not only did he feel his attack connect, but he could also remember the sensation of crushing bones with his hand! There was no way that bastard was going to survive this attack.

"I did it! The Hydra's armour is mine!" Jacklin proudly exclaimed, but as the dust around them settled down, his smile disappeared.

"Still spewing nonsense, I see."

Ashton was standing right in front of him. Blood was gushing out of his broken arm, but he was unscathed otherwise.

"All me to put an end to your yapping mouth."

Without wasting another moment, Ashton punched Jacklin with his good arm, sending him flying out of the crater.

__

Skill: [Revenge] is now in cooldown.

Cooldown: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes.

__